Low-cost financing was a key driver of the growth in auto sales over the last 2-3 years

Two imperatives for automakers

Defend the business, and manage the evolving scenario. These are the two key areas that Indian automotive companies have to focus on, says Mr Rakesh Batra, Partner and National Leader - Automotive Practice, Ernst & Young. "This situation is without precedent and requires an immediate response to ensure survival," he observers.

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How successful has power trading been?

The power pricing puzzle

Time, in The Winter’s Tale, speaks of ‘that wide gap, since it is in my power.’ Perhaps, in current times, we are experiencing a wider gap in power, between demand and supply. A solution may yet be in sight. “The development of the power trading market will have a major impact on the expected capacity additions and future power tariffs in particular,” hopes Ms Chaula Desai, Associate Director, Ernst & Young.

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'Finance is the constraint particularly in this regime of cash crunch'

Critical factors for pruning costs

Volatility is inherent in the present global financial system and it is going to stay, observes Mr Siddhartha Sen, a Kolkata-based cost accountant who was formerly the Senior Director (Research & Journal) of the ICWAI (Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India).
You cannot just wish away an unwelcome guest staying too long, you have to learn to live with him, explains Mr Sen, through an analogy. "Marginalise impact of his stay and make him uncomfortable till he is bored enough to leave you!"

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'Money being supplied to the banks is not being lent through'

De-leveraging demystified

Crafting newer solutions almost on a daily basis, the global leaders and market regulators are grappling with a meltdown that refuses to be contained, much like a rogue elephant on the rampage despite tranquiliser shots. So, where are we now in the current financial crisis?
Pose this question to Mr Satyajit Das, the author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (2006, FT-Prentice Hall), and he observes, "The financial crisis has some way to go. I can do no better than refer you to Winston Churchill's famous statement: `this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.it is perhaps the end of the beginning.'"

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